The Olympics

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Galloway holds meeting with Jowell
26/06/2008
insidethegames.com

JUNE 26 - RESPECT MP George Galloway has held a meeting with Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell on the impact that the 2012 Games will have on London's East End, particularly security.

Galloway, who represents Bethnal Green and Bow, which are located in the Host Borough of Tower Hamlets said: "This was a useful first step. We were able to raise a number of points, which the minister certainly listened to. She and I identified areas are areas in which progress might genuinely be made. There is widespread community concern about the impact of security arrangements around the site on the people of East London. There is already great alienation in large swathes of our communities due to the use of stop and search, and other so-called 'anti-terrorism' measures.

"On the evidence of today, there may be scope for community-led initiatives which ensure that the security arrangements for the Olympics don’t end up deepening the alienation out of which threats to security might come.

"We have in the City of London and Canary Wharf, two huge examples of shining temples of glass and steel within which there are very few local people working, especially black and ethnic minority people working – at least in white collar and good jobs. We strongly raised today that the people of East London will feel deeply aggrieved if the same were to happen over the Olympic development.

"Other issues touched on included the issue which has come to dominate sport internationally, corporate sponsorship and the exclusion of small, local businesses. The overarching concern we raised was whether the people of East London, London as a whole and, indeed, Britain will truly feel any benefit from the games legacy – which was the great promise on which the Olympic bid was sold – or whether we will end up with deep resentment at the cost and outcome. Time will tell how much progress will be made on all these issues. But I and Respect are already in there raising them, before London becomes the host city on 24 August."

Councillor Abjol Miah, leader of the Respect group on Tower Hamlets Council and a party spokesperson on the Olympics, said: "This meeting sounds encouraging. The International Olympic Committee and the other authorities involved in 2012 need to know that the communities in East London will not be idle spectators to what is happening. Through a variety of means, we will get our voices heard. What East London needs is a People's Games. That’s what I'll be campaigning for. We'll be monitoring whether developments meet those aspirations.

"It’s only by doing to that the Games will appear as something we in East London are fully a part of, rather than, as has happened in so many other Olympic cities, the Games being seen as something that is done to us."

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